Cocktails anyone? and a few other pieces

Good morning! Phil and I woke very early today so we went for a long walk in our local park and had breakfast not just coffee at our local cafe. Such a nice way to start the day - I feel like we've gone on a date:) Back home, the kids are still sleeping so no doubt we will have a mad rush to get ready for school but it was worth it.

I recently painted and sold this cocktail cabinet - Painted in a divine French green grey. A beautiful chalk paint, white trim and a little antiquing. The interior is painted in Dulux duck egg satin.  I just love this elegant piece.

It sold to just the loveliest lady. She is using it in her bedroom. Her whole house is so lovely: a small elegant Paris style apartment. I feel honoured to have a few pieces of my furniture there. 

A mirrored interior.

I also have available these lovely old timber drawers. They were in a bit of a state so I didn't mind painting them. They are very old and have a few little dings showing previous life but still beautiful. I have painted them in a subtle robin's egg chalk paint. Hard to describe but a lovely elegant muted colour. The photo colour is accurate. 5 drawers as top left drawer is a double depth. Beautiful old piece. 

100w X 43d X 98h cm

$395

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So pretty. Message me if you are interested. 

Have a great day. I'm off to look at a whole lot of beautiful furniture. I'm hoping I can afford it :)

Fiona xx

Beautiful French Armoire and Vintage Mirrors

Some pieces need a lot of work and some not so much. I left the original paint work on this French style armoire and just gave it all a clean, a light sand to smooth out the surface and a french coat of wax. It's pretty magnificent as it is.

It's a lovely bone similar to ASCP Old Ochre. A great way to hide the tv away in you live in a house with french style decor. The doors fold right back flush with the sides. The shelf inside is adjustable and removable and if you wanted to use this as a linen press then you could easily add an extra shelf. If you wanted to use it as a wardrobe you can add a handing rod. I can help you do either of these options. 

105w x 70d x 170h cm
$1000
Pickup Lilyfield or delivery can be arranged

How beautiful is that carved detail  - and my favourite is the fretwork inside.

If you are interested pop me an email 

I also have a few beautiful mirrors available. These are all very old and came from the same estate in Point Piper. 

Incredible ornate vintage mirror: make a statement in your room. This mirror is very old and lovely, absolutely gorgeous condition . Ready to hang.
90w x 80h cm
$385

This mirror below has already sold -it was actually part of a matching pair which would have been fantastic but the other one has a brown mirror so i will turn it into a chalk board. I love that the mirror shows through in all the gaps on the edges. So special.

This mirror below would be fantastic over a mantle. There is some wear to the gilding on this but the details are fantastic. Beautiful beveled mirror.

116w x 64h cm
$250

I am very squashed in my studio at the moment with a lot of custom painting and a sideboard that I have already sold but have to still paint. I have my work cut out for me at the moment and am watching the muscles in my forearms as they are feeling very tight from painting and sanding. Busy time of year for everyone isn't it.

If you are interested in any of these pieces then let me know and I am happy to arrange viewing or delivery.

Fiona xx

Secret compartments and massive gold frame

It's great when a piece of furniture offers something that you didn't know about when you buy it. I found a little book case recently and it wasn't till I started cleaning and sanding it that I realised it had a secret compartment. The seller didn't even know about it.  Under the bottom shelf this old bookcase has a secret metal lock box. Shame it didn't come stuffed with cash, just two American dimes. The whole piece is very old and hand made. I really debated what colour to paint it - I was tossing up between stately black or beachy taupe. In the end I decided to go with the black and a pale grey interior.

Love this handmade piece. The piece has already sold

I also have for sale a massive gold carved timber frame. This is a perfect piece to turn into a blackboard or mirror.  Also perfect for a shop or events planner.

85w x 125h cm

$245

Today I'm out looking for new pieces for my inventory and also I will spend some time painting to finish up a lovely cocktail cabinet. 

enjoy your day

Fiona xx 

Latest pieces and my girl on Halloween

Hope you all had a good Halloween. It's not too crazy around here - just a nice community event. Sasha went off with some friends to Dulwich Hill and got very dressed up and sent photos. Jonty wasn't even going to go trick or treating until his best friend showed up at our house and convinced him to walk around our suburb. Luckily he had a scary mask. I wanted to share Sasha's outfit with you. such great make up. She made the voodoo doll outfit herself. Hooray for teaching your kids to sew for themselves :)

I've finished a few pieces this week as well as a load of custom work. It always gets very busy between now and Christmas for me. People getting their houses beautiful for the holidays.

These vintage bow front drawers below are lovely. Solid timber and a pretty shape. They work well as a large bedside table or even a lamp table in your lounge room. Three dovetailed, graduating drawers and beautifully crafted. Excellent storage. I have painted them in a mix of Annie Sloan chalk paint and waxed. A very lovely pale warm grey. Very gently distressed. 

66w x 52d x 77h
NOW SOLD
Pickup Lilyfield

These squarer cut drawers with cabriole legs have sold. Such great old bits of furniture given a new life. Both pieces had very damaged finishes so needed sanding and priming but work the effort.

A nice vintage oak mirror. Beveled edge and hand carved details with poker work in the carvings. Ready to hang.

90w x 38h cm

NOW SOLD

and lastly I have these lovely vintage drawers. I have painted these in a bright Porters Paints white with a waxed finish. Original castor wheels. Three easy to slide dovetailed drawers. Happy to distress if you prefer that look. Perfect height to work as a baby change table.

107w x 51d x 84h cm
NOW SOLD

The beautiful flowers are from my friend Kathy who I worked with years ago at Vodafone. We were both project managers delivering major projects. . We were in a really small but tight knit team and they were full on but fun times. Kathy bought a chest of drawers from me last week and brought the flowers when she came to pick up her piece. So nice.

Have a great day
I'm hoping to get several pieces finished. Will share soon
Fiona xx

Dark Blue Bureau Desk

Last week I had a delighted customer and it really struck home the best part of being a furniture painter. Helping people fall in love with their surroundings again. Megan lives in a small one bedroom apartment and as such only has a few pieces of furniture. She wanted them all to be pieces she absolutely loves so she asked me to paint a small oak bureau desk. I showed her a few colours and she decided on my dark blue finish.  The piece turned out beautifully and Megan was just thrilled.

This is the bureau before - nice oak but Megan wanted a pop of colour.

I think the handles are so lovely. They were nailed in rather than screwed in so I had to paint carefully around them. Always a bit of a pain and more time consuming but I managed to not get any paint on them.

I just making people happy with their new furniture. So nice to be part of that transformation.

have a great day

Fiona xx

Stunning French Style Carved Console; Lovely story

Some pieces come with a beautiful story. The story of this beautiful piece will stay with me for a long time.

One evening my friend calls me to tell me she's heard of some beautiful furniture for sale so I call the guy and arrange to go see it all. I don't arrive till after 9pm as I'd been doing some deliveries. The house is stunning and there's a big SOLD sticker on the front gate and a VERY handsome and charming man waiting at the front door for me in his pjs. No problem. Lucky he doesn't sleep in the nude. 

He shows me the furniture and I fall in love with this divine console and he starts telling me the story. It's his childhood home and his European (maybe Croatian?) parents' furniture. His elderly father has dementia and is being placed in care. The house has been sold and his mum is moving to a tiny apartment. His mother is beside herself as she hasn't spent a night apart from her husband since they got married at 17. 

While he's talking his mum gets out of bed to meet the lady buying her beloved furniture. Gorgeous very old lady. She goes back to bed while Charming Man and I continue talking for another hour about aging, dying parents, love and loss. There were hugs and tears. And this beautiful piece (and a few others) came home with me to be painted and to share a new life with someone else. 

Originally the piece was very dark timber and you couldn't see all the amazing detail so I decided to lighten it all up with a custom mix of ASCP Paris Grey and whites. I have then clear waxed it and use a little black wax in the crevices.

Isn't it stunning?

Sending good thoughts to that beautiful family and wishing them well.

Fiona xx

French Coffee table, Small Drawers and Amazing carved Panels

Good morning. I'm trying to fit in regular blogging again so I'm sitting here after our morning walk through the park with Charlie and of course home via the coffee shop. It's actually very nice as I can hear the kids getting ready for school and Phil making his breakfast and I'm sitting here in the study, sipping my coffee and no one has disturbed me besides a good morning kiss on my forehead from Sasha. 

Actually funny story, yesterday I bought home some amazing carved timber panels and I was telling Sasha how they were actually part of a double bed but I chopped them up where I bought them (which always has the potential to freak out the seller) mainly to fit in the car but also because I didn't want the rest of the bed, just the panels. She just looked at me and asked "Mummy tell me you didn't go shopping with a saw in your handbag!"

Yes I did :)

How good are these going to look painted? I have a few ideas for them and will share when I eventually get around to doing them. At the moment I am inundated with custom work and painting to sell so I'm not sure when that will be.

I also have a pretty coffee table for sale that I finished recently. Solid timber and given a lime washed effect with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. It has a grey base with lots of white wash so it's light and bright and would suit a variety of decors.

122w x 52d x 46h cm
$395

Pickup Lilyfield

Yesterday I also finished painting these handy storage drawers. I mixed a lovely sea foam green. I had quite a few people pop into my studio while I was painting these and every body commented what a gorgeous colour they are.

These chests of drawers are a handy piece of storage: perfect for CDs, craft or small items. Great height to pop a lamp on in the corner of a room.

46w x 38d x 94hcm

$295

Pick up Lilyfield

Today I am picking up a large buffet that would be perfect for a Hamptons look. Not quite sure where I will be able to squeeze it in as my studio is very full at the moment with pieces that have sold and not yet picked up and pieces that I'm working on. I need a factory :)

have a great day

Fiona

lots of black paint...

Hope you all had a good weekend. Mine was absolutely fantastic possibly slightly too fantastic - out till 4 am Saturday night at a university college reunion so I think we all just thought we were 19 again. So much fun. Oh I'm too old for that ha ha but then followed up yesterday afternoon by a beautiful musical showcase at Sasha's school. She sang a solo, a duet and two mash ups in the acapella group and it was just lovely. Isn't it great seeing your kids go from strength to strength. Phil and I are hopeless - both of us shed a few tears. Yes I am that embarrassing mum.

I have been enjoying painting some pieces recently in black. So dramatic and a nice anchor to a room. How stately do these drawers look in black especially teamed with that beautiful mirror. Both pieces sold quickly. The mirror was something I could have easily kept but that's not the aim of my business so I decided to part with it. I always know I can find more lovely pieces but the details on this one were lovely. I bought it from a lady who was moving out of a huge terrace house in the back of Redfern. It was a beautiful tree lined street full of old but well maintained terrace houses and this house had a beautiful bright pink front door. So surprising and lovely.

The console below was in a terrible state when i picked it up. It was very badly weathered and the varnish was all flaky and peeling. I spent ages sanding it smooth.  I think this piece was crying out for black paint. I love it.

Really nice details on this piece. It is quite low and would work either in a hallway or behind a sofa.

The funny this about this piece was I had seen it a few weeks ago for sale and didn't buy it but ended up going back for it last week. That evening (Wednesday 19th of October) I was finishing up some other pieces and was about to stop work for the day and cook dinner but thought I would just make a start and prep this piece so it was ready for me to start painting the next morning. So I flipped the piece over and saw the date of manufacture. Exactly 35 years ago. I love little coincidences like that. If I'd bought it the week before, waited till the next day or even not flip my pieces over to paint underneath then it wouldn't have been noticed. 

I also painted a little china cabinet Rosie had inherited from her grandmother. 

Here it is below in situ. Love that sandstone wall.

These bedsides below were given to me by a lovely lady who was moving out of her house in Vaucluse. They were a great shape and nice and tall. I painted them black and had so many people asking for them. I lightly distressed the edges to bring out the timber detail. 

and last on my black list ;) is this little pine shelf unit. So narrow and handy. I really like this one with the tongue and groove paneling.

Lots of people asking how to get a good finish when using black. I don't think black is for beginners as it's hard work to get a good finish and even sheen. It takes practice but here are my tips to get you started: My tips for getting a good finish on black.

Fiona xx

Chicken Wire Cabinet

I am still wearing the scars of this project :)

I recently bought an old oak cabinet that was missing the front door panel. Something like that never scares me off and as a bonus it makes the piece more affordable as often other buyers often don't want to muck around with it. 

I thought I had a before photo but now can't find it. The oak timber grain was beautiful but it was very dark and dirty. I wanted to keep the grain visible so decided to white wash it. I made a mix of white paint and water so it is quite translucent and running and I started painting. to white wash you would normally need to strip your timber back to bare wood. This cabinet was so old and dry and the original finish had mostly disappeared so I gave it a light sand mainly to smooth out the timber grain and then I started painting. For white washing I paint in long strokes then wipe off after the paint starts to dry but well before it is fully dry. You can give it several coats depending how white you want it.  Once the cabinet was fully dry I also waxed it with white wax to further enhance the lightness.

I painted the interior in a Dulux duck egg that I had on hand.  It was a semi gloss that will hold up well to scratches and cleaning, and means I didn't have to wax the interior of the cabinet which I hate doing.

For the door I cut some chicken wire and stapled it in. Cue scratches all up and down my forearms. I looked like i had been in a cat fight. To secure it in place I used a million staples and then bent the sharp edges over using my pliers.

Lovely paneled details.

This piece would be lovely to store quilts in or in a bathroom full or white towels. It sold immediately and has already been picked up.

Have you used chicken wire in a project. Did you find a way to not get shredded?

Fiona xx